View three Pennsylvania Military College Alumni Association Scrapbooks covering the years 1895 to 1940. These scarpbooks contain Alumni Association correspondence, newspaper clippings, documents and memorabilia depicting events on campus in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This collection includes Official Lists of Graduates for 1856-1991. These list include students from Hyatt's Select School for Boys, Delaware Military Academy, Pennsylvania Military Academy, Pennsylvania Military College, PMC Colleges, Widener College and Widener University.

About the collections

Widener University traces its origins to Wilmington, Delaware, where it began in 1821 as a small Quaker school for boys. During the next 180 years the school was transformed numerous times, changing into Pennsylvania Military Academy, Pennsylvania Military College, PMC Colleges, Widener College and finally Widener University, a comprehensive doctorate-granting university on four campuses. Much of the story of this rich and diverse history can be found here, in the many exhibits of photographs, oral and written histories, yearbooks, school newspapers, scrapbooks, and more.

Researchers will learn, among a wealth of other things, how the school contributed to the war effort during World War I and World War II, and how it was affected by the tumultuous Vietnam War era.

Alumni will be able to relive their days here, through fully searchable yearbooks and over 1000 issues of the student newspaper, the Dome. They can look back on the history of athletics, viewing photographs of football teams from 1880 on, and early photographs of baseball, gymnastics, and of course polo, a sport in which Pennsylvania Military College excelled.

Present students will learn about Widener’s past, and how Widener fits into the history of Chester.

Our digitization program is ongoing. Check back regularly for additional exhibits.